Hi
using credentials sseems to be easy, but I have problems using them in 11.2 on linux:
This code is running without any problems:
begin
dbms_scheduler.create_job (job_name=>'TESTJOB',job_type=>'EXECUTABLE',job_action=> '/tmp/mytouch.sh',enabled=>TRUE);
end;
/
In externaljobs.ora run_user is tomtester and rungroup tomtester as well.
so I this my problems seems no to be a protection problem.

For using credentials I have an OS user tomtester with tomtester as password. I can connect with the user and can execute /tmp/mytouch.sh without any problems.

If you are using a credential, externaljob.ora is not used. Instead the scheduler uses $ORACLE_HOME/bin/jssu to login to the operating system using the username and password specified in the credential.

Here are some things to check

- make sure the credential has been created with the right username and credential
- make sure that you can su and sudo to the user
- check the system or secure logs for login errors
- if you are using linux or solaris make sure that pam is properly installed . In particular, make sure the file libpam.so exists and is a link to a valid existing file

knudwdbs2> cd $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin
knudwdbs2> ls -ltr ext*
-rw-r----- 1 root oinstall 1534 Jan 26 2011 externaljob.ora
knudwdbs2> cat externaljob.ora
# $Header: externaljob.ora 16-dec-2005.20:47:13 rramkiss Exp $
#
# Copyright (c) 2005, Oracle. All rights reserved.
# NAME
# externaljob.ora
# FUNCTION
# This configuration file is used by dbms_scheduler when executing external
# (operating system) jobs. It contains the user and group to run external
# jobs as. It must only be writable by the owner and must be owned by root.
# If extjob is not setuid then the only allowable run_user
# is the user Oracle runs as and the only allowable run_group is the group
# Oracle runs as.
#
# NOTES
# For Porters: The user and group specified here should be a lowly privileged
# user and group for your platform. For Linux this is nobody
# and nobody.
# MODIFIED
# rramkiss 12/09/05 - Creation
#
##############################################################################
# External job execution configuration file externaljob.ora
#
# This file is provided by Oracle Corporation to help you customize
# your RDBMS installation for your site. Important system parameters
# are discussed, and default settings given.
#
# This configuration file is used by dbms_scheduler when executing external
# (operating system) jobs. It contains the user and group to run external
# jobs as. It must only be writable by the owner and must be owned by root.
# If extjob is not setuid then the only allowable run_user
# is the user Oracle runs as and the only allowable run_group is the group
# Oracle runs as.

I've no trouble using dbms_scheduler to run PLSQL jobs, but am having great difficulty getting a bash shell script to run.
I'm running on an 11G XE machine and have set up credentials which are correct - I can login using the unix username and password. The scheduled job fails with:

Can anybody confirm that this would cause the problem I'm getting.
Originally the jssu file was missing and my hosting company grabbed one from elsewhere. It looks as though there may be more than one version of jssu, is that possible?